Act of Valor (2012)
Average Rating: 4.5/10
Reviews Counted: 130
Fresh: 32 | Rotten: 98
It's undeniably reverent of the real-life heroes in its cast, but Act of Valor lets them down with a clichéd script, stilted acting, and a jingoistic attitude that ignores the complexities of war.
Average Rating: 4.9/10
Critic Reviews: 33
Fresh: 6 | Rotten: 27
It's undeniably reverent of the real-life heroes in its cast, but Act of Valor lets them down with a clichéd script, stilted acting, and a jingoistic attitude that ignores the complexities of war.
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Average Rating: 3.9/5
User Ratings: 76,918
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Movie Info
An unprecedented blend of real-life heroism and original filmmaking, Act of Valor stars a group of active-duty U.S. Navy SEALs in a film like no other in Hollywood's history. A fictionalized account of real life Navy SEAL operations, Act of Valor features a gripping story that takes audiences on an adrenaline-fueled, edge-of-their-seat journey. When a mission to recover a kidnapped CIA operative unexpectedly results in the discovery of an imminent, terrifying global threat, an elite team of
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Cast
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Roselyn Sanchez
Agent Morales -
Alex Veadov
Christo -
Nestor Serrano
Walter Ross -
Jason Cottle
Shabal -
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Emilio Rivera
Sanchez -
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Act of Valor Trailer & Photos
All Critics (131) | Top Critics (33) | Fresh (32) | Rotten (98) | DVD (2)
'Act of Valor' reeks of military-sanctioned exploitation drama aimed solely at the 'Call of Duty' set.
Top CriticFighting is a learned skill; so is acting. And the SEAL stars are plausible only when on maneuvers - performing as their own stunt doubles.
When the bullets are flying, Act of Valor is undeniably tense and thrilling.
I don't know what to make of Act of Valor. It's like reviewing a recruiting poster.
The special ops missions are pretty amazing, but the SEALS as dramatic characters are under-developed.
Like all advertisements, this scripted movie is a perfect fantasy: expertly coordinated, simplistic (the bad guys like yachts and bikini girls while our heroes have loving families) and more than a little scary.
Act of Valor is a love letter to servicemen but it's also a disjointed mishmash of slick combat sequences paired with awkward performances and a generic storyline.
The SEALs should stick to saving the world, and the movie makers should look at the differences between a movie and a recruitment video.
Although likely to delight patriotic American audiences, it will leave everyone else indifferent.
Would be nothing worth writing about, or even making, without the novelty of seeing some of America's greatest heroes in action.
It's very much a conventional thrill-ride action movie, though the claims to realism are undercut by too many video-game point-of-view shots as the soldiers engage the enemy.
May have you longing for an old-fashioned era of 'square' propaganda, when it wouldn't have been considered a cool recruitment strategy to acknowledge that U.S. troops use constant profanity and splatter opponents' brains against the wall.
Made me yearn for the nuanced screenwriting of Battleship, the moderate politics of Transformers 3 and the versatility and range of Sam Worthington and Taylor Kitsch.
Not so much a war movie as a tribute to the Commandos known as the SEALs, and to their bonds forged in battle, it's a sombre affair, immersing us in the culture of these specially trained soldiers. Indeed, the cast are made up of genuine SEAL team members
If you like Act of Valor you may as well abandon drama for porn, because you don't like how the sex scenes feel fake.
Since when did 'having the uniform at home' qualify as the only pre-requisite for someone's employment? If that has indeed become the case, you can look forward to my imminent casting in Easter Bunny: Origins.
Directors Waugh and McCoy have obviously been to the Tony Scott school of sunset cinematography. Every other frame of this dawning drama has helicopters, surfboards, speedboats and submarines emblazoned with sparkling twilight.
Act of Valour might work as a recruiting poster for impressionable teenagers, but those who bravely serve in the armed forces deserve a better tribute that the naïve, sub-Team America nonsense served up here.
I guess they had to be realistic in order to make up for the dialogue, the acting, the special effects, the mawkishness, the closeted homoeroticism, the jingoism...
A movie so hawkish and gung-ho that it makes John Wayne's The Green Berets look unpatriotic and Top Gun seem positively pinko.
A distasteful and foolish film, a recruiting poster that might well carry the slogan "Join the Navy, Travel the World and Kill People".
It's a furiously macho saga scripted by the screenwriter of 300 and starring real Navy SEALS, those always-get-their-man men of mystery.
Without the skills of some big-name actors, the type whose magnetism has drawn generations of cinema-goers into cinemas, it's all curiously empty and uninvolving.
Act of Valour is a dud.
Act Of Valor essentially marries platitude with attitude, veering from the realms of wholesome all-American family life to bullets-raging battle scenes.
It's like the game Call Of Duty, with worse acting and writing.
Audience Reviews for Act of Valor
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
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- Agent Morales: Before my father died, he said the worst thing about growing old was that other men stopped seeing you as dangerous. I've always remembered that, how being dangerous was sacred, a badge of honor. You live your life by a code, an ethos. Every man does. It's your shoreline. It's what guides you home. And trust me, you're always trying to get home.
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- Agent Morales: As one stick may break, a bundle is strong.
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- Agent Morales: If you're not willing to give up everything, you've already lost.
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- Walter Ross: Remember, they do this for a living too.
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- Agent Morales: Sing your death song and die like a hero going home.
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- Agent Morales: When your time comes to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song, and die like a hero going home. [note this is spoken by Chief Dave]
Discussion Forum
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Latest News on Act of Valor
February 27, 2012:
Box Office Guru Wrapup: SEALs Storm Into #1 Spot with ValorAmerican audiences were in the mood to support the troops as the Navy SEAL film Act of Valor ruled...
February 23, 2012:
Critics Consensus: Act of Valor Misses the MarkThe 84th Annual Academy Awards are Sunday, so here's your last chance to check out the nominees...
February 21, 2012:
A Real-Life Navy SEAL Rates the Authenticity of 10 Navy SEAL MoviesPerhaps unsurprisingly, Steven Seagal's "Under Siege" does not rank high on the list.
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Foreign Titles
- Act of Valour (UK)
- Acto de valor (ES)
